In a blog post on October 18 (now removed) I posted some things I regret about Erfan Ibrahim's remarks at the IEEE Electric Grid Modernization Workshop last week. I apologize to both Mr. Ibrahim and to my readers.

Joe Weiss

In the gold rush to Smart Grid, it's easy to get left out. In the last several major press releases about Smart Grid I've seen, one standards body has been conspicuous by its absence. That, of course would be ISA. Even though ISA has launched a full-court press to transform itself from a member style educational foundation into a workforce development and standards body (which I believe is the future of the Society--- and I've been saying so since 1998)-- it seems to have been left at the altar for Smart Grid.

I just received a press release from IEEE, calling itself "the driving force behind changing the perception of math and science-based careers." Funny, because I just spent two days at ISA with Executive Director Pat Gouhin and Automation Federation Chairman Steve Huffman, and they are "the global voice of automation," and they are constructing, with the US Department of Labor, a standard set of competencies for the automation professional.